Monday, April 07, 2008

Words of Celebrity

"I have lived such a wonderful life. I've lived enough for two people."
Charlton Heston (1924-2008), who was a passionate campaigner for civil rights in his youth (seen here as he pickets a whites-only restaurant in Oklahoma City in 1961) passed away on 5 April.

"He had charisma, hypnotism, a kind of spell which he cast on an audience ... It's carnal when an audience wants an actor as much as an audience wanted Paul Scofield. You stand in danger of getting sucked in by it."
Actor Simon Callow pays tribute to award-winning English actor of stage and screen, Paul Scofield (1922-2008).

"Until recently, the concept of private life was basic to civilisation. Its value could be measured by the thoroughness with which totalitarian states and religions always did their best to stamp it out. But now we have to face the possibility that the latest stage of civilisation might also be trying to stamp it out."
Columnist Clive James on the issue of privacy in the age of electronic communication.

"It was in southern Sudan and as we were going through checkpoints; there were all these young kids with AK47s. They went through the car and just took what they wanted. We hid all the tapes, but they pointed guns at us and stole what they could. They obviously didn't know who we were; they don't have great TV out there."
George Clooney describes being robbed at gunpoint while on a 2008 trip to Sudan with the United Nations.

"I don't think women do lose their so-called sex appeal. It just shifts into a different arena. There's no question, full-on sex appeal is for the young – it is. That's nature. And so it should be. But older men and older women, when they say sex appeal I don't think they really mean sex. I think they're talking about some indefinable thing that has to do with appreciation of life, wisdom and all kinds of things. There should be a special word for it."
Helen Mirren, 62, on the sex appeal of the older woman.

"I was so nervous about doing that campaign because obviously I've done photo shoots before, but I've never done photo shoots in my underwear. I was quite nervous because I knew my wife and friends were going to see it, and my mum was going to see it. When the photos first came out, she was the first one to call me and say, 'What are you doing?' I tried explaining it to her, but she didn't really get it."
David Beckham's mother doesn't like his 2008 £20m Armani ad campaign.